Consider Yourself Penalized

Question: if you throw your pint at me and miss, but I pretend to get wet anyway, who gets the card?

Well, I tried to leave this open for a Drinking and Diving joke, but I see there are no takers.

At any rate, I’m troubled that you guys are all saying that Berlin seems to be free of World Cup frenzy. Could this just be the cynical ennui of any capital city? I mean, their team is still the favorite to advance out of the group, and its got three or four nice wins in a row.

Surely, though, things will pick up steam as the next week progresses.

You’ve got to have fun for the rest of us!

England’s World Cup Win 1966

Bobby Moore holds aloft the Soccer World Cup
Patrick Lockyer

I had loved soccer for as long as I could remember and my team in the East of London where I lived before joining the military was/is West Ham United. The Captain of West Ham was Bobby Moore and he was our hero. He was now also the Captain of the England Squad playing for the World Cup in England.

I was in Germany when this World Cup was being played out in England and what a place to be to watch the matches as the Germans love their Soccer as much as the British. I was constantly being asked to go to people’s houses to watch an International match between our two countries for the information I could bring to the event. I had made up my mind on arriving in Germany five years before that to learn German. I had arrived in 1961 and sat on a bus going into Dortmund City center without being able to understand a word that was being spoken between about 30 people and I could not have felt more lonely.

Now I had been in Germany five years and could communicate and I was ‘hot property’. I did not go out of my way to encourage and advise my fellow soldiers of the benefits of making the effort to learn German but the truth of it was that many of them thought that the ‘night life’ and ‘lusty adventures’ were more interesting that studying a book. I saw many differences in some of my ‘fellows’ and as described by my military careers officer as to whether I should continue after nine years or take my honorable discharge. He said that I was not a square peg in a round hole but was more like a square peg with a wart on it. So I came out and never regretted either my nine good years or my decision to become a civilian again.

I had had a thousand adventures in Germany and I love the country and the people. Despite the war we have a lot in common and for sure soccer is high on that list. I respect the reticence of the Germans to ‘go to war’ and think that we all could do with more of that attitude. Have you seen what we did to the City of Hamburg and how people had to shovel their relatives up into pails, as they were just blubber? We suffered in London as well, for sure, but we also got our revenge and German took it on the chin. They did not whinge about it. I saw the British ‘terrier’ attitude in ‘occupation’ and it was not always a thing to be proud of. That same attitude is why we had a war with Argentina and Maggie Thatcher was great but we got sick of that ‘hawkish’ mentality and so will America I am sure. I pray that it will happen sooner not later.

As soldiers we watched the World Cup 1966 in the German bars and they loved our money. We were mostly well behaved but the celebrations after winning through to the final by beating Portugal led to some damage and they did not let anyone see the World Cup Final in the German Pubs. We had to find somewhere to watch the final and was able to collect together in a friends house that were married quarters and the funny thing was that the houses all backed onto the German houses and only a chain link fence to divide us. It was quite something as the game progressed to see us all out celebrating a goal in our yards and then them all out in theirs when they equalized. That happened all through the game and when it went to ‘extra time’ both sides were out smoking themselves to death in worry and angst.

For those who might not know England had beaten Argentina and Mexico and France and Portugal to get to the Final and Brazil who we all fear now had been beaten by Portugal and Hungary and did not even make it to the Quarterfinals. The great Pele was injured and they seemed not to have any other stars then.

I had watched countless soccer matches on TV and even been to stadiums with Germans during my five years but now I was separated and in my own ‘enclave’. We could not do this together. This was serious stuff and it was not ‘war’, this was far more serious. Whoever won this cup would have bragging rights for the next four years until the Cup Final was fought again. In actual fact we have fed off this event in 1966 ever since. We can’t brag of winning multi times like Brazil and Germany and Italy but nevertheless we are still considered something special to have pulled it off. We are too proud as a nation to join forces with Scotland and Wales and Northern Island and even Eire to have a Great Britain team and if we did we might have enjoyed more success and that is the point. It is about supporting your team and not ‘just’ about winning. England has made me proud in every game that has ever been played since then and we have been disappointed many times for all the pleasure that winning the World Cup against the old enemy Germany (in the soccer sense). England is always the best sports and never more so than when Diego Maradona cheated to put us out of the1986 World Cup. I am proud that we shouldered that disappointment.

(The winning goal was the second goal by Diego Maradona in the 1986 World Cup quarter-final match, for Argentina against England on June 22, 1986, at the Azteca stadium, Mexico City; it came shortly after Maradona’s infamous Hand of God goal. Nine minutes into the second half, Héctor Enrique passed the ball to Maradona some ten metres inside his own half. Maradona then began his 60 metre, 10 second dash towards the English goal, dodging five English outfield players ( Hoddle, Reid, Sansom, Butcher and Fenwick) as well as goalkeeper Peter Shilton to make the score 2-0 to Argentina. Gary Lineker scored a goal for England 25 minutes later, but England were unable to equalise and Argentina won 2-1.

About the goal, Maradona said, ”I made the play to give it to Valdano, but when I got to the area they surrounded me and I had no space. Therefore, I had to continue the play and finish it myself.” A statue of Maradona immortalizing the moment has been erected outside the stadium.

Recently, Maradona said he could not have scored such a beautiful goal if it had not been against the honest English team, who did not knock him down as most defenses used to do. ”They are probably the noblest in the world,” he added.)

We finally won the game 4-2 and we celebrated long and hard whilst the streets were empty of Germans around the Barracks in Bielefeld. My boss was the Chief of Staff 1 (BR) Corps and he was a Tank General. He was Major General Patrick Hobart M.C. He was going to London to be the Director of Operations in Whitehall and I was leaving Germany the next day to be in the cream of my Royal Corps of Transport Squadron based in Regents Park Barracks where I would spend the next 3 years and many more adventures. I painted my Volkswagen with the names of the England team and drove right through Germany and Belgium to the ferry and back to England that next day. I was hooted at and passed within inches on the Autobahn but you had to do it. It was the bravest thing I ever did in my 5 years in Germany.

NOW WE PLAY ALL OVER AGAIN STARTING ON THE 9TH JUNE..COME ON ENGLAND…IT HAS BEEN TOO LONG…I HAVE WAITED 40 YEARS…IS IT OUR TURN AGAIN….PLEASE MAKE IT SO…..PATRICK..

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